Friday Freebie #4 – Use shallow DOF for Portrait impact

23 November, 2009 - 4:00 am Prakash Heda - http://visual-vacations.com/Photography/focus-recompose_sucks.htm never recompose after focus for best sharpness...

23 November, 2009 - 8:32 pm Dave - Fully agree with you, as I actually always move the focus point to be in correct position with the shot, to save recomposing & introducing focus errors. I actually wanted to create a diagram to show the problems with recomposing, but never got around to it. Your link saves me the effort :)

11 May, 2011 - 4:31 am kim ortiz - I just ordered this lens. I heard with this lens, it takes some practice to get the focus right. When focusing on the eye, do you point the focus point on the eye closest to you? At what aperture is it tack sharp versus very soft? Thanks

13 May, 2011 - 9:19 am Dave - Hi Kim. Usually with most lenses their sweet spot is at least 1/2-1 stop in , in terms of being pin sharp. That said my copy of lens produced quality images even when wide open. Remember not to pixel peep too much & just print a shot to see what it looks like. Re focus, when wide open you don't have much DOF to play with, so I try to move the focus point to match composition of shot (ie. If I want eyes in focus & they are on right 1/3 point of shot, I choose a focus point for that area. You don't want to be locking focus & recomposing shot if possible. Re a portrait where model is at angle to you & therefore each on a different focus plane, I go for nearest one in focus, but you have to play & see what suits you Good luck with lens :)